New Recovery Method for Pitchers Between Innings Discovered

New Between-Inning Pitching Recovery Method Discovered

July 26, 2011

During exercise, muscles create lactic acid which can hurt muscle function in overhead athletes like swimmers which could be also be seen in pitchers. So any way to help lower lactic acid levels may help maintain/improve pitching performance.

Now a new study:

Warren CD. Effect of Three Different Between-Inning Recovery Methods on Baseball Pitching Performance.
Jou Str Con Res 2011; 25(3): 683-688

has found that Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NME-Stim), used for more than 2 decades in athletes, to the pitching shoulder lowered lactic acid levels by 53% while groups that did light jogging (60% max heart rate) and complete rest between pitching performances in a lab (6 minutes of rest between pitching) experienced no changes.

The NME-Stim group also threw at higher velocities (75.57 mph) compared to the running (69.95 mph) and rest (74.29 mph) groups.

The researchers suggest this increased velocity may be due to NME-Stim causing muscle contractions that clear out the lactic acid and allow stored sugar ("glycogen") to enter the muscles:

Author 20conclusion

What if I don't have access to NME-Stim?

I sent out a newsletter in July of 2011 about an amino acid called Beta-Alanine and its' ability to increase speed and strength in football players (click here for that press release). If you cannot use NME-Stim, you may want to try Beta-Alanine to see if it can improve your pitching performance.

Have any questions about this Immediate Release Article?

Please email (PitchingDoc@msn.com) or call (631-352-7654) Dr. Arnold!